Tag: vlogs

Confrontations are to be expected at the Mr. Olympia Expo. At least, that seems like a rational assumption when you pack an area with men competing against each other, jacked to their gills on various forms of illicit testosterone and innumerable other chemicals. Maybe it generally results in a flex-off, or two behemoths bellowing in their guttural voices as they proceed to lay waste to each other like a pair of elephant seals. In short, it’s a great venue for empty alpha-male posturing, which made it perfect for the WWE-style confrontation that Wanderlei Silva arranged to psyche out his hypothetical future opponent (and #1 Least Favorite Person) Chael Sonnen.

We first caught wind of this incident last night when Larry Pepe released a highly pixelated video — apparently captured on the camera phone from his 1989 Motorola DynaTAC — of Silva being restrained from assaulting (but not from yelling at) Sonnen, who is more than happy to return verbal fire. It’s almost impossible to ascertain what was said from that, unless someone out there can translate 144p, but it was reasonable to assume that they did not exchange pleasantries.

Fortunately, Wanderlei provided some clarification when he posted his latest batshit video blog concerning the incident. In it, we see exactly what was said between the two — there’s some naughty language involved, if you can believe it, as well as a substantial amount of finger pointing courtesy of the Axe Murderer, who is convinced that he saw fear in Chael’s eyes. Given that Sonnen is still scheduled to fight Rashad Evans in November, it’s going to be a while before this match gets made, if it does at all. That said, hopefully the UFC can put to rest the “will they?”/”won’t they?” simmering tension between the two, and let them have at it in the Octagon. There’s only so much we can take of Wanderlei Silva screaming at us over heavy metal guitar-shredding before we begin to mentally snap.

To be fair, I think it’s really cool that your dad is Internet-savvy enough to record video blogs and post them to YouTube. I was a little worried after your mom divorced him, but it seems like he has a good outlet for expressing his opinions now, and he’s probably not as depressed as he would have been otherwise.

That being said, I have to disagree with your dad’s take on Nick Diaz. Nobody said that every professional athlete has to be a role model for our youth that are growing up, particularly the ones that depend on a "bad boy" persona to be marketable. Diaz may be a loud-mouth punk, but he’s also one of the best welterweights in the world, and some of us actually find his antics entertaining. He’s not for everybody, I know. There might be a generation gap that’s keeping your dad from appreciating Nick’s unique brand of don’t-give-a-fuck-ness. And the middle fingers are a bit much, no argument there. But does that mean he should be banned from the sport, like your dad is suggesting?

As for the part about Robbie Lawler beating Diaz down to his knees and forcing him to his apologize for his mouth, please tell your dad that they fought once back in 2004, and Lawler got wrecked, so he’ll have to find another hero for his Nick Diaz humbling-fantasy. Nothing personal, it just seems like your dad has a lot of anger he’s still working through, and it might be a good idea to look for some new hobbies for him. Anyway, send him my best, and we’ll see you guys at Brian’s wedding, okay?

“Not only have I not changed my mind about (not doing) the video blogs, I had a reality show too called American Promoter. We had a done deal to do it and now I’m not going to do that either…It’s too much, man. It’s way too much. You see the video blog. It follows me all day (and) all night. We actually shot the pilot for American Promoter. We already shot that. That’s worse than the blog. They’ve got a full camera crew; boom guy; (and) a couple producers surrounding me all day and all night. This incident that happened, it’s just, I’m like ‘no way, it’s too much.’… I’m going to be me. Me being me, I’m going to be me and I just don’t need that 24/7.”

(Translation: "If pussies get offended when I drop the words ‘faggot’ and ‘bitch’ in my angry rants, then fuck it all, because I gotta be me.")